Trichocentrum pulchrum - my dilemma (2 photos)
 

Two Trichocentrum plants were benched at the meeting. The one with a yellow
marked labellum was labelled Trichocentrum pulchrum. The one with the red
marked labellum was labelled Trichocentrum brandtiae. They looked quite
distinct. On checking the names on the Kew Monocots page, they list
Trichocentrum brandtiae as a synonym of Trichocentrum pulchrum. Jay Pfahl
has them as separate species. What do others think? Are they really the
same species? Who would want to be a taxonomist?

This species is found from Venezuela through to Peru.

--
John Varigos
Melbourne, Australia
__________________________________________
To email me remove "usenet." from my email address.

Trichocentrum pulchrum - my dilemma (2 photos)
 

Don'cha just hate it when this happens! Nice series John. Cheers Wendy
"John Varigos" wrote in message
om...
Two Trichocentrum plants were benched at the meeting. The one with a
yellow marked labellum was labelled Trichocentrum pulchrum. The one with
the red marked labellum was labelled Trichocentrum brandtiae. They looked
quite distinct. On checking the names on the Kew Monocots page, they list
Trichocentrum brandtiae as a synonym of Trichocentrum pulchrum. Jay Pfahl
has them as separate species. What do others think? Are they really the
same species? Who would want to be a taxonomist?

This species is found from Venezuela through to Peru.

--
John Varigos
Melbourne, Australia
__________________________________________
To email me remove "usenet." from my email address.

Trichocentrum pulchrum - my dilemma (2 photos)
 

John,

If they were in my collection I would probably note the names Jay puts to
them on the labels just so I can remember which is which. Unless, you are
planning to hybridize them or they are going to judging the name doesn't
mean much.

Officially, I would say that Kew overrules Jay.

You could just wait a year and some taxonomist will need a subject to write
his thesis on and probably change the name anyway.

Good growing,
Gene


"John Varigos" wrote in message
om...
Two Trichocentrum plants were benched at the meeting. The one with a
yellow marked labellum was labelled Trichocentrum pulchrum. The one with
the red marked labellum was labelled Trichocentrum brandtiae. They looked
quite distinct. On checking the names on the Kew Monocots page, they list
Trichocentrum brandtiae as a synonym of Trichocentrum pulchrum. Jay Pfahl
has them as separate species. What do others think? Are they really the
same species? Who would want to be a taxonomist?

This species is found from Venezuela through to Peru.

--
John Varigos
Melbourne, Australia
__________________________________________
To email me remove "usenet." from my email address.

Trichocentrum pulchrum - my dilemma (2 photos)
 

Is there a distinction between the lip and callus forms?

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies. Books, Artwork, and lots of Free Info!


"John Varigos" wrote in message
om...
Two Trichocentrum plants were benched at the meeting. The one with a
yellow marked labellum was labelled Trichocentrum pulchrum. The one with
the red marked labellum was labelled Trichocentrum brandtiae. They looked
quite distinct. On checking the names on the Kew Monocots page, they list
Trichocentrum brandtiae as a synonym of Trichocentrum pulchrum. Jay Pfahl
has them as separate species. What do others think? Are they really the
same species? Who would want to be a taxonomist?

This species is found from Venezuela through to Peru.

--
John Varigos
Melbourne, Australia
__________________________________________
To email me remove "usenet." from my email address.

Trichocentrum pulchrum - my dilemma (2 photos)
 

John,

Color is typically not considered when identifying orchid species. In fact,
many taxonomists work from reconstituted pressed materials or spirit
preserved flowers.

Each method of preservation does not preserve color - only the morphologic
structure of the flower. Things like the shape, position, and number of
calli and other bug-scale features are used to distinguish one species from
another.

For most orchids, especially epiphytes, the primary pollinator is an insect.
These bumps, ridges, and other features serve to guide the insect to the
target: pollination.

Insects also see in different wavelengths than humans, so the colors we see
are not the colors an insect sees.

That means one must look at a flower in black and white to identify it to
species.

-Eric

"John Varigos" wrote in message
om...
Two Trichocentrum plants were benched at the meeting. The one with a
yellow marked labellum was labelled Trichocentrum pulchrum. The one with
the red marked labellum was labelled Trichocentrum brandtiae. They looked
quite distinct. On checking the names on the Kew Monocots page, they list
Trichocentrum brandtiae as a synonym of Trichocentrum pulchrum. Jay Pfahl
has them as separate species. What do others think? Are they really the
same species? Who would want to be a taxonomist?

This species is found from Venezuela through to Peru.

--
John Varigos
Melbourne, Australia
__________________________________________
To email me remove "usenet." from my email address.

Trichocentrum pulchrum - my dilemma (2 photos)
 

Agreed Eric, but why are these then considered conspecific by Kew yet Jay
considers them to be different species. If you ignore colour they sure look
alike, so does that mean that Kew is correct?

John


"Eric Hunt" wrote in message
...
John,

Color is typically not considered when identifying orchid species. In
fact, many taxonomists work from reconstituted pressed materials or spirit
preserved flowers.

Each method of preservation does not preserve color - only the morphologic
structure of the flower. Things like the shape, position, and number of
calli and other bug-scale features are used to distinguish one species
from another.

For most orchids, especially epiphytes, the primary pollinator is an
insect. These bumps, ridges, and other features serve to guide the insect
to the target: pollination.

Insects also see in different wavelengths than humans, so the colors we
see are not the colors an insect sees.

That means one must look at a flower in black and white to identify it to
species.

-Eric

"John Varigos" wrote in message
om...
Two Trichocentrum plants were benched at the meeting. The one with a
yellow marked labellum was labelled Trichocentrum pulchrum. The one with
the red marked labellum was labelled Trichocentrum brandtiae. They
looked quite distinct. On checking the names on the Kew Monocots page,
they list Trichocentrum brandtiae as a synonym of Trichocentrum pulchrum.
Jay Pfahl has them as separate species. What do others think? Are they
really the same species? Who would want to be a taxonomist?

This species is found from Venezuela through to Peru.

--
John Varigos
Melbourne, Australia
__________________________________________
To email me remove "usenet." from my email address.

Trichocentrum pulchrum - my dilemma (2 photos)
 

John,

Don't have an answer there. They looked pretty much the same to me, too.

-Eric in SF
www.orchidphotos.org

"John Varigos" wrote in message
om...
Agreed Eric, but why are these then considered conspecific by Kew yet Jay
considers them to be different species. If you ignore colour they sure
look alike, so does that mean that Kew is correct?